I had one on an 884 savage nitro and yes the hole shot and low mph handled great. Should be fine with one on. I bought mine at academy and took a few minutes to put on and that was still on when I traded my boat.

From what I understand, you'll trade hole shot and quicker planing for top speed. How much, I'm not sure, but that's what I always heard. My previous boat had fins, and my current one doesn't. I haven't noticed much of a difference, but they are two different boats.

I had to have one to keep the bow down and plane out faster and stop porpoising when I had a 16' Skeeter Wrangler with a 150 Black Max, moved motor over to a 18.5' Nitro (MX185) and left it on, holeshot is great and no porpoising so I left it like that. My top speed isn't affected cuz it isn't in the water wide open.....

It should help with that, a different prop or some work to that prop can help a lot. Some props are made to lift the bow, others keep the bow down and lower pitch will greatly improve your holeshot.

Also on a Merc there is a limiting bolt in the bottom holes of the bracket that keeps the motor from tilting too far in and hitting the boat. My Nitro has a step in the transom and I could remove the bolt without any fear of motor hitting. With the motor trimmed down all the way it actually gets up under the boat a bit more and helps lift the stern getting on plane much quicker and keeping the bow down.